Earlier in April this year, I stumbled upon a book titled Uniqlo (written by Takashi Sugimoto, published by Nikkei BP) while browsing a bookstore during a business trip.
Thinking it would be a good way to pass the time during transit, I bought the book and started reading it right away. The book details the history of Uniqlo (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.)as a company, while also portraying the life of its owner and CEO, Tadashi Yanai. While the book was moderately interesting as a casual reading, it left me somewhat unsatisfied as a business book due to its lack of deeper insights. Perhaps that was to be expected, as it was written by a newspaper journalist rather than Mr. Yanai himself. This prompted me to revisit Mr. Yanai’s own writing, and soon I found myself rummaging through my bookshelf, pulling out a few of his past works.

 I found three books written by Mr. Yanai: One Win Nine Losses, Throw Away Your Success in a Day, and Notes on Becoming a Manager (the first two are published by Shinchosha, and the last by PHP Institute)*. I read through all of them in one sitting. The oldest of these books was published over 20 years ago, when I was in my early 40s and still running a very small business. My way of thinking back then was vastly different from how it is now, so I discovered many new insights this time around that I had not noticed in my earlier readings. As I made my way through these books, nodding in agreement with Mr. Yanai’s ideas, I suddenly realized what Mr. Yanai was saying sounded similar to the business philosophy of Mr. Akio Nitori, the owner-manager of Nitori Holdings. Intrigued, I pulled out three books by Mr. Nitori from the bookshelf: The Five Principles of Success(Asahi Shimbun Publications), 55 Wisdoms for Growing Leaders (Kadokawa), and Nitori’s Work Style (Daiwa Shobo)*, and read through them all as well.
*Note: Unofficial translation of Japanese titles.

 Uniqlo and Nitori, despite operating in different fields—Uniqlo in apparel and Nitori in furniture—share several common characteristics. For instance, both are led by charismatic and driven founder-owners, and both have achieved remarkable growth over several decades, rising to become leading companies in Japan. What’s more, I realized that the driving force behind their extraordinary growth is quite similar. I have outlined what I’ve discovered below. The three common factors that contributed to their remarkable success
are:

1) A strong sense of mission and a desire to contribute to society;

2) Ambitious, seemingly impossible yet concrete goals that challenge conventional thinking; and

3) The ebb and flow of talented individuals throughout various phases of growth.

1) A strong sense of mission and a desire to contribute to society

 Mr. Yanai of Uniqlo emphasizes that the ultimate goal of a company should be to “make people happy.” He defines Uniqlo’s mission as “To create truly great clothing with new and unique value, and to enable people all over the world to experience the joy, happiness and satisfaction of wearing such great clothes.”
 On the other hand, Mr. Nitori of Nitori Holdings refers to what Mr. Yanai calls a mission as an “aspiration.” According to Mr. Nitori, aspiration is the “desire to dedicate one’s life for others and society,” a yearning that goes far beyond personal gain or loss. Specifically, Nitori’s aspiration is to “enrich the homes of people all over the world.” It is clear that the pursuit of “mission” or “aspiration”—which transcends profit or loss—rather than focusing solely on sales or profit growth as the ultimate goal, has been a key factor in driving both Uniqlo and Nitori’s growth into leading companies representing Japan.

2) Ambitious, seemingly impossible yet concrete goals that challenge conventional thinking

 Both Mr. Yanai and Mr. Nitori believe that to realize the “mission” or “aspiration,” their ultimate goals, setting concrete, quantifiable goals is essential. What’s crucial, they argue, is that these goals must be so ambitious and even seemingly impossible that they challenge conventional wisdom.
 Mr. Yanai asserts that goals that seem irrational or unreasonable are what lead organizations to innovation. For instance, when Uniqlo’s sales were still \8 billion, Mr. Yanai set the goal of becoming the world’s No. 1 apparel retailer. As the company grew, he continued to set higher sales targets: \30 billion when sales reached \10 billion, \300 billion when sales reached \100 billion, and \1 trillion when sales reached \300 billion.
 Mr. Nitori refers to these extremely ambitious, seemingly impossible goals as “vision,” which he describes as something that may seem impossible to achieve when approached in a conventional way. For instance, when Nitori had just a few stores, he set the goal of expanding the store count to 100 and achieving \100 billion in sales and \10 billion in profit by 2002, which the company achieved just a year behind schedule. He then set the target of increasing the store count to 3,000 and achieving sales of \3 trillion by 2032. By continuously setting goals that seem unreasonable or impossible, Nitori has created situations that forced the company to change its approach and take on new challenges.
Through the repeated process of tackling new challenges and engaging in trial and error, Nitori has consistently cleared these lofty goals.

3) The ebb and flow of talented individuals throughout various phases of growth

 This is the most significant insight I have gained from this exercise. Both Mr. Yanai and Mr. Nitori mention the role of talent in their writings. Throughout the journey to where their companies stand today, there have been individuals who have supported them and significantly contributed to their growth. However, there were also those who did not share top management’s vision for the future or could not keep up with changes in the companies’ growth phases, leading them to leave.
 The key takeaway from this is that, through various phases of a company’s development, it is crucial to have the right talent for the specific phase the company is in.
Management teams led by these capable individuals can drive significant growth. Conversely, this also means that different growth phases require different talents. In essence, both bringing in and letting go of talented individuals are vital for growth. While it is important for companies to attract talent, it is equally important to part with them when necessary. This aspect is often underemphasized, and I would like to explicitly highlight it here. That being said, the fact that both Mr. Yanai and Mr. Nitori are still leading their companies illustrates the difficulty of finding successors who share this perspective and can effectively take on their roles.

 Neither Mr. Yanai nor Mr. Nitori seems to regard himself as particularly exceptional, and this may be true. There are plenty of individuals with strong management skills and other exceptional capabilities, as well as those willing to work hard. However, finding someone who shares the three points I have outlined here, or who strongly believes in them, is extremely difficult. With what I have learned this time, I have decided to adopt a similar mindset and approach in my own actions. I’m already excited about the possibilities this may bring.

Hirotaka Shimizu
Chairman and CEO
Kamakura Shinsho, Ltd.